Horus Heresy Campaign Phase 3 - Battle 1: The Conclave of the Damned

"Be careful out there."
"If I wanted to be careful, I wouldn't have joined the drop troops."

 - exchange between Kozar troopers,
2nd Platoon, 3rd company,
 just before Operation Comet

Campaign To Date:

It has been about 40 years since a combined force of Sons of Horus, Death Guard, and White Scars brought the Xhorik System into compliance during the Great Crusade. The major population centers of the largest continent were quickly brought under Imperial control in the typical fashion: a series of pinpoint attacks of overwhelming force by the Legions against the enemy's strong points, followed by rapid surrender. Due to the richness of the primary planet and the strategic location of the system on a sort of crossroads of warp currents, small garrisons of the Death Guard and White Scars legions were left on the planet to oversee the tithes of men and material to the Great Crusade and to help eradicate the threat of large ork populations in the eastern wastes.

With the advent of the Horus Heresy, the Warmaster ordered that the Xhorik System be taken to act as a way station for resupply on his long march to Terra. The Death Guard and their human allies on Xhorik Prime launched an attack on the White Scars and their allies, the Stratocracy of Kozar.

In Phase 1 of the campaign, the Traitors pushed the Loyalists from the war-torn border city of Bielyr in a series of bloody streetfighting.

In Phase 2, the war escalated across the badlands of the Valbaara Plateau in several pitched battles. In the end, the Brotherhood of the Wind was defeated and their leader Praetor Zherdan was killed by the Death Guard.

Phase 3 of the Campaign for Xhorik Prime finds the battered Loyalists unable to stand against the Death Guard heavy armor and so they are resorting to guerrilla tactics as the Traitor army advances north toward the major cities of Kozar. This phase will culminate with a large Traitor assault on a fortified Loyalist city. There will be four missions that will impact the deciding battle of the phase.

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

This first battle represents the arrival of the World Eaters into the Xhorik system and their attempts to link up and coordinate with Praetor Wolfgang and his Death Guard. They have arranged a secret meeting at a remote location far from the front lines, but a Loyalist spy was able to get wind of the approximate location. Now a Loyalist R.A.P.T.O.R. team has been assembled to make a daring raid in an attempt to eliminate the Traitor leaders and disrupt their coordination for the coming assault.

We played the Conclave of the Lost scenario from Horus Heresy Book VI. In this mission, commanders of two allied factions start in a central ruin with a few sentries around the perimeter. The attacker can deploy infiltrators and the rest of each force is in reserve. Victory points are awarded to the attacker for eliminating enemy HQ units by turn 3 or to the defender if they survive for three turns instead. The secondary objective is kill points for destroying units and we elected to use our house rule of units being worth one kill point for every 100 pts the unit cost, rounded up.

The result of the Kill Team game we played previously setup this game by allowing the Traitor side to start with a dreadnought on the board (rather than just infantry) by obtaining replacement parts and for the Loyalist side to have one unit up to 200 points arrive from reserves on Turn 1 due to capturing additional data on the meeting location from scanner consoles. 

ARMY SELECTION:  Points

Traitors - Pete

Death Guard

• Praetor Wolfgang: Terminator armor, Paragon Blade, volkite charger, digilasers
• Tactical Squad Stärke: 12 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor and Apothecary Wilhelm
• Tactical Squad Ritter: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor, rhino with heavy flamer
• Tactical Support Squad März: 7 marines with volkite calivers and Apothecary
• Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich:  multi-melta, melta gun, dreadnought close combat weapon

World Eaters

• Vigilator Remulak: Cameoline and bolter
• Legion Recon Squad The Butchers' Eyes: 4 marines with sniper rifles
• The Red Butchers: 5 marines with power axes plus Devouer Argore with two chain fists
• Land Raider Flesh Grinder: twin-linked lascannon sponsons, twin-linked heavy bolter
• Contemptor Dreadnought Vorgett the Vicious: twin-linked lascannon, melta gun and chain fist

Loyalists - Phil

R.A.P.T.O.R. (Rapid Attack / Precision Tactical Operations / Reconnaissance) Team for Operation Comet:

Kozar 87th Drop Troops, 3rd Company

• Captain Xhaer with plasma pistol and Command Squad with medic, vox caster, carapace armor
• Veteran Squad Recon with carapace armor and Forward Observers (infiltrate and homing beacon)
• 2nd Drop Platoon:
• First Stick: Infantry Squad with melta gun and vox caster
• Second Stick: Infantry Squad with grenade launcher
• Melta stick: Two special weapons squads with melta guns
• 2 Drop Sentinels with multimeltas
• Tauros with grenade launcher

White Scars Brotherhood of the Wind 

• Tactical Squad Kheeg: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power glaive and artificer armor
• Tactical Support Squad Khoer: 8 marines with plasma guns
• Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer Balestorm: Omega Plasma Array, heavy bolter and lascannon sponsons
• Outrider Squad Anchin: 5 Outriders with twin-linked plasma guns, including sergeant Genju
• Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Dop Pod

Imperial Fists Support

• Terminator Squad: 5 marines with plasma blaster, volkite charger, two power fists, chainfist, lighting claw

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Listen up, soldiers," snapped Captain Xhaer.

"You've been briefed so you know the importance of Operation Comet. We've already been taking a beating and now the traitor scum is trying to link up with a warband of the World Eaters legion. We know the Death Guard are advancing on Berat. I know more than a few of you are from there and have family there. We cannot let them coordinate a joint attack on the city. This is our chance to disrupt their forces. We must take it and we must not fail.

"We will have sixty minutes, plus or minus ten, from T-zero when the White Scars drop pod hits until the Valkyries come back in for extraction, depending on how much heat they face.  If the Primaries are neutralized, then take out any enemy targets of opportunity before we pull out. But watch yourselves; this isn't a suicide mission. We cannot afford to deplete too much of our fighting strength. We need to hit them fast and hard, accomplish our objectives, and get out of there alive. Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" was the shouted response of 2nd Platoon.

"Into hell we go..." Xhaer began the regimental motto of the Kozar 87th.

"...Willingly!" the men finished with raised fists.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



BATTLE:

Deployment Map

Horus Heresy Battle Report 13: The Setup (Kill Team)

"Better to be the head of a wasp than the tail of a dragon."

 - Brother Elder Gansukh of Kill Team Sürel,

White Scars Legion,
on why he prefers to fight as part of a kill team

Campaign To Date:

It is the middle of the Age of Darkness, as the Warmaster Horus makes his long march toward Terra, leaving shattered star systems in his wake. Lying in the path of the traitors' advance, the planet of Xhorik Prime is torn apart in civil war after only recently being united by the Great Crusade. The largest nation, The Federation of Unimund declare for the Warmaster and Mortarian as their living gods and liberators, while their ancient rivals to the north, the stratocracy of Kozar and her allies, side with their kindred spirits and sworn blood brothers, the White Scars.

The first phase of the campaign consisted of a series of small skirmishes as the the Death Guard captured the border city of Bielyer and the only space port of any consequence in the region. In the second phase of the campaign, the Traitors pushed north into Loyalist territory across the barren Valbaara Plateau in a series of larger pitched battles. The Death Guard control of the space port allowed them to bring in a super heavy battle tank, which helped to overpower the White Scars.

As the third phase of the campaign begins, both armies have suffered significant casualties and are looking for reinforcements. The White Scars have taken the worst of the fighting, such that they will struggle to mobilize enough forces for large pitched battles and will need to rely more on their Kozar Army allies and the small Imperial Fists detachment. Their strategy will be to defend the key cities combined with hit-and-run targeted raids when opportunities arise. The Death Guard are planning to assault the key cities and strongholds of Kozar in order to crush the northern nation and bring the major population centers of the continent under the control of Horus and Mortarian. To assist in this endeavor, they are hoping to enlist the support of a contingent of World Eaters that has arrived in the Xhorik system. Praetor Wolfgang calls for a secret council with the World Eaters at a remote location in order to understand their current mission and coordinate their forces against the Loyalists.

PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

The next major battle will be the first final battle of the third phase of the campaign. We decided that each team would have two objectives to capture, with an effect on the main battle for each objective captured.

The Death Guard would be looking to gather critical supplies: replacement parts for their mighty Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich, which suffered some damage in previous battles. The needed parts are indicated by the red storage container and the red crates. Each objective captured would be worth an extra 200 points that Pete could spend on defenders that would start the game on the battlefield and could be used for any units (the mission restricts the defender to start with only infantry on the table).

The White Scars would be trying to capture two area scanners with detailed information about the area. Their reconnaissance work has already told them the general vicinity of the Traitor rendezvous, but with the scanners, they could pinpoint the location. This would allow them to focus their forces rather than sweeping a larger area. The result would be that for each objective captured, Phil would get to select 200 points worth of units to arrive from reserves on Turn 1, rather than rolling to arrive on Turn 2 as normal. Just like the Traitor bonus, this would be in addition to any units allowed to start the game on the table or arrive from reserves on Turn 1 already.


FORCES:

Death Guard Kill Team Ritter
Sergeant Albrecht: Power Fist
Heavy Gunner: Missile Launcher
Gunner: Plasma Gun
Four tactical marines

White Scars Kill Team Sürel
Sergeant Khaljyk with Power Sword (represented by glaive on model)
Gunner: Brother Elder Gansukh with Plasma Gun
Gunner: Plasma Gun
Four tactical marines

BATTLE:

The foes face off in the industrial facility, both kill teams seeking to give their side the advantage in the pivotal battle to come.

Campaign Update: Phase 3 Outline and House Rules

Phase 3 will be a set of four missions to setup the final battle and culmination of the phase: a Death Guard assault on the walls of a fortified Kozar city. The four missions are not necessarily linear and represent various skirmishes, raids and maneuvers ahead of the main attack, where each mission will have a significant impact on the final game. The winner of the final game will be the winner of the phase.

1. The first mission of Phase 3 will be a variation of the Conclave of the Lost scenario from Horus Heresy Book VI. This will represent the World Eaters joining the campaign with a secret conclave between their forward strike force and Praetor Wolfgang. If the traitors win, they have successfully coordinated their assault in the final battle and one World Eater unit (and any transport) gets to deploy via Outflank, including inside the city walls.

2.  Zone Mortalis mission representing an assault on a ship in orbit. If the Traitors win, they control geosynchronous orbit above the city and can launch bombardments (as per the Damocles Command Rhino) at the start of any traitor shooting phase on a 4+.

3. Night Raiders (from the Taros Campaign). If the Traitors win, they can elect to re-roll the roll for an additional turn at the end of the game.

4.Shatter Strike as both forces try to breakthrough in a battle along the main road to Berat.


5. The final battle will be a Death Guard assault on the city gate.

The defender selects an army of 3000 points and splits his forces into two parts: Sentries and Reserves. The Sentries portion consists of 1 HQ, 1+ Troops choices, and 0 - 2 Heavy Support choices. Only units with the Infantry or Artillery type may be selected. This portion of the army can cost up to half the army total points cost and may be deployed anywhere up to 6" in front of the city walls. The HQ unit must be deployed inside a piece of ruins designated as the Defenders Headquarters. The Defender Reserves force starts in Reserve as normal and enters using the normal rules. The Warlord may be part of either force.

The Attacker can select an army of 3000 points. The Attacker may deploy any units with Infiltrate as per the normal rules. The Attacker automatically goes first (no chance to seize the initiative) and may move as much of his army onto the table from his board edge as desired. Any unit chosen to enter the table on Turn 1 with the Deep Strike rule may deploy using Deep Strike on Turn 1. Any unit that does not enter the table on Turn 1 starts in Reserves as normal. The Attacker's army can include a Lord of War.

There will be three primary objectives: the gate, the loyalist headquarters and the defensive artillery platform. Holding an objective at the end of the game is worth 3 VPs. Or the attacker can earn 2 VPs for destroying the gate or the artillery platform (the headquarters must be held). Secondary objectives: Slay the Warlord (1 VP) and Annihilation (whichever side destroys more points worth of enemy units gets 1 VP). Additionally, the Attacker can earn Line Breaker (1 VP).

Gate: AP 14, 5 Hull Points, fortification damage table. If you control the Gate Controls at the start of your turn, you may choose to open or close the gate.

Artillery Platform: AP 14, 5 Hull Points, fortification damage table. Any artillery units on the platform can re-roll scatter.

Defender Headquarters: Any unit in this ruin may re-roll failed morale and leadership tests.

City Wall: This counts as a terrain piece and not a fortification. Units on the wall receive a 3+ cover save from the front a 6+ cover save from behind. Multiple units from opposing sides may simultaneously be on the walls.

The battle lasts for a minimum of six turns. At the end of the sixth turn, there is a seventh turn on a roll of a 4+.

The Defender starts with good positioning, but the attacker gets more options to earn VPs and the chance to earn bonuses in the preceding missions.

I really want to try this mission in reverse as well!

Other Campaign Rules:

Terrain:
We have finally documented our campaign terrain rules to make them more consistent from game to game.

Warlords:
Our Warlords can choose a Warlord Trait instead of rolling for one as long as it is suitable based on the way they have played so far. That trait should not change from game to game unless both players agree there was a significant change in the way the Warlord or his army played and then the new trait should be representative of that.


Blast Marker Weapon House Rule:
For direct fire: Roll to hit as normal. If hit, place the template on the closest visible model in the target unit, as per normal rules for casualty removal. If miss, no effect (no scatter).
OR: Can use the standard rules (place the blast anywhere in the unit and automatically roll for scatter subtracting BS.
Indirect fire (barrage) stays the same as current if there is no line of sight. If there is line of sight, you can choose to fire directly, as above.


Go To Ground House Rule:
Going to Ground is never used in our games because the benefit is too small for the cost so we should improve it. If a unit elects to go to ground, it gains a +2 to its cover save instead of +1.


Sniper Rifles House Rule:
The special rules are replaced with: "Heavy 1, Sniper, Head Shot, Pinning" and the points cost is increased from +5 to +10 points.
Head Shot: An unmodified roll of 6 to hit results in the hit being S6 AP2.


Elysian Drop Troops:
To bring them in line with Horus Heresy, the cost of all infantry and light vehicles (up to AV 11) - basically everything except flyers - are reduced by 15%.

Xhorik 87th Drop Troops Melta Stick

These two special weapons squads typically ride to battle together in a single Valkyrie, but with the flexibility split up during the drop as the tactical situation dictates. They fight in two-man fire teams consisting of a melta gunner and a rifleman that carries extra ammo, acts as a spotter, and provides covering fire so that the primary gunner can focus on the most important targets.

Due to the short range and high power of their weapons, melta sticks are often included in platoons that are making combat drops directly into battle where they are sent to eliminate critical enemy targets.

Shown here are all six fire teams of the two squads that make up the melta stick of their platoon.

Horus Heresy Battle Report 12: Control of the Valbaara Plateau (Phase 2 Finale)

"For Horus to succeed, Terra must fall. For Terra to fall, Xhorik must fall. For Xhorik to fall, the Brotherhood of the Wind must fall. This is our task."

 - Praetor Wolfgang,
Death Guard Legion

Campaign To Date:

It is the middle of the Age of Darkness, as the Warmaster Horus makes his long march toward Terra, leaving shattered star systems in his wake. Lying in the path of the traitors' advance, the planet of Xhorik Prime is torn apart in civil war after only recently being united by the Great Crusade. The largest nation, The Federation of Unimund declare for the Warmaster and Mortarian as their living gods and liberators, while their ancient rivals to the north, the stratocracy of Kozar and her allies, side with their kindred spirits and sworn blood brothers, the White Scars.

In the first phase of the campaign, the Death Guard captured the border city of Bielyer and the only space port of any consequence in the region. 

The second phase of the campaign has centered around the conflict for the Vaalbara Plateau. The White Scars struck first with  a false retreat leading to an ambush of the Death Guard vanguard. The Traitors were able to rescue Praetor Wolfgang in time to lead them to victory in the pitched battle that followed. Then, after using the space port in Bielyr to bring in a super heavy battle tank, the Death Guard attacked and destroyed the Loyalist base, Bunker  Tauruk. Praetor Zherdan and a small band of survivors were forced to fall back and rendezvous with reinforcements that had been on their way to the battle at the bunker. The White Scars reinforcements outflanked the pursuing Death Guard and drove them off.

With both sides running low on manpower and supplies, the remnants of the two armies converge on an abandoned pumping facility in the middle of the badlands. Both Praetors elect to engage the enemy with everything at their disposal, attempting to drive the other from the Valbaara Plateau once and for all in this decisive battle.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The bitter north wind scoured the Valbaara Plateau. Praetor Wolfgang felt the tiny shards of ice and grains of sand stinging his face as he surveyed the abandoned outpost. With the help of the rugged terrain, he had managed to conceal a good portion of his forces from the White Scars Outriders that had been sweeping the area ahead of the main loyalist advance. 

Wolfgang knew the White Scars forces in the area were critically low on supplies after the destruction of their stronghold, Bunker Tauruk, and that he had the opportunity to deliver a decisive strike here today. But time was not on his side. His own supply lines were stretched to cover the long distance of his northern advance from Bielyr and vulnerable to raids by the mobile White Scars and their Kozar allies. He had suffered significant causalities of his own, and ammunition and fuel were running low this far from his supply base. He was not worried about his men; they had marched and fought without food, water or rest for several days already and showed no sign of fatigue. But his vehicles could not drive on fumes or go into battle without shells. He needed these supplies as badly as the Loyalists, but he could afford to be patient and let the enemy come to him and his defensive positions. 

Sergeant Albrecht's voice came over the comm link, indicating the sensors in his Rhino had picked up the enemy advancing into the center of the outpost.

"Let them come. Don't attack until I give the word." Praetor Wolfgang ordered.

He knew he had one chance to break the Loyalists here and he intended to do so.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



PRE-GAME AND MISSION:

To represent how the battlefield priorities were constantly shifting between the scramble for supplies and the need and desire to destroy the enemy, we played a Maelstrom of War mission from the WH40K 7th Edition Rulebook called Contact Lost. In this mission, you received tactical objective cards for each objective marker you controlled at the start of your turn. We liked that it rewarded being aggressive and controlling the table because a player would get more chances to earn victory points by holding objective markers during the game.

Pete and Bill won the roll to select their deployment zone and then they won the roll to decide on deployment order and elected to deploy second. That strategy has been hugely successful in the campaign so far as it allows them to put their units in position against their optimal foes.

After deploying Infiltrators and making Scout moves, Pete rolled a six and stole the initiative! 

ARMY SELECTION: 1780 Points

Traitors - Pete and Bill

Death Guard

• Praetor Wolfgang: Terminator armor, Paragon Blade, volkite charger, digilasers
• Tactical Squad Stärke: 14 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor and Apothecary Wilhelm
• Tactical Squad Ritter: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor, rhino with heavy flamer
• Tactical Support Squad März: 7 marines with volkite calivers
• Heavy Support Squad Tragen: 7 marines with missile launchers and Apothecary
• Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich:  multi-melta, melta gun, dreadnought close combat weapon
• Legion Fellblade with space marine crew

Loyalists - Phil

White Scars Brotherhood of the Wind

• Praetor Zalitai Zherdan: Master-crafted power glaive,iron halo, digilasers, cyber hawk 
• Tactical Squad Kheeg: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power glaive and artificer armor
• Tactical Support Squad Khoer: 8 marines with plasma guns
• Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer Kharvaak: Omega Plasma Array, heavy bolter and lascannon sponsons
• Outrider Squad Anchin: 5 Outriders with twin-linked plasma guns, including sergeant
• Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Dop Pod

Kozar 87th Drop Troops, 3rd Company

• Captain Xhaer with plasma pistol and Command Squad with medic and vox caster
• 1st Drop Platoon:
• Veteran Squad with carapace armor, infiltrate, homing beacon, melta bombs and breacher charge
• Infantry Squad with melta gun and vox caster
• Infantry Squad with grenade launcher
• 2 Drop Sentinels with multimeltas
• Tauros with grenade launcher

BATTLE:

Praetor Wolfgang gives his orders from a good vantage point on top of a rocky hill, surrounded by a block of his toughest soldiers.

Unleash the Red Butchers

THE RED BUTCHERS and THE BUTCHERS' EYES


Fresh off of exterminating the populous of the loyalist Tull System, the World Eaters of Angron's 4th Battle Group await orders for their next assignment. No matter the tactical objective of the upcoming campaign, the end will be the same - complete and utter slaughter of the enemy.


Of all the troops at Horus' disposal going forward in his war of hated and vengeance against The Emperor, none are so rightfully feared as Angron's Red Butchers. Driven mad by bloodlust and the piercing "butcher's nails," these berzerkers are unleashed upon the enemy and all allied troops know to keep a wide berth of their carnage. To exert control over these madmen and use them strategically in battle, they are accompanied by an elite recon squad of World Eaters who infiltrate ahead on the battlefield and call in targets for The Butchers. Therefore they have a nickname among the 4th Battle Group - The Butchers' Eyes.

(Above) The Butchers' Eyes on the Battlefield, calling in a target for bloody extermination.

The Red Butchers

By the end of a campaign, their white armor was stained red with blood. Their own blood, the blood of their enemies, the blood of fellow World Eaters who got too close to the rampage.

Once a renowned Centurion among the World Eaters, after the butcher's nails were pierced into his skull and deplorable madness took hold, Argor is now an unfeeling Butcher, hellbent on killing all before him.

White Scars Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod

I finally fished my Christmas present from the wife: the Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod.

Just cleaning and assembling the thing took a few sessions. Fitting it together was actually fairly difficult.

It is a pretty large model! And when it is all together, it looks fantastic.

There were some gaps between some of the resin and plastic pieces so I tried to fill them with green stuff and smooth them as well as I could.

After several weeks of painting sessions (did I mention painting white is a real pain?), here she is, brand new and clean from the manufacturom. But a drop pod isn't going to look like this for long!

I figure a drop pod has an extremely rough life so it should look pretty worn and weathered. 

I wanted it to look like it had made many drops; a valuable transport with a long history within the Brotherhood of the Wind.

The photos aren't the best, but it looks decent in reality. 

Overall, this thing was a much bigger job than I anticipated when I started (but then again, so are almost all of my projects...). One problem is that I have issues with my white priming so I spend a lot of time just painting white on top of white, and white takes a lot of coats to cover anything! Also, the clean white look I have adopted is a lot of work since I am doing all that black lining of every crease instead of just washing and drybrushing the entire model like a smart, sane person would do. But, that clean white is what separates these White Scars from the Death Guard or the World Eaters and their dirty off-whites, and I like the look, even if it is a pain on a model this big.

I didn't even bother with the base, or doing much detail on the bottom of the model (just a boltgun metal drybrush down there), partly because I was burned out on this thing by the end, and partly because a drop pod flying around sideways the battlefield just seems silly to me. In my mind, this thing is meant to rocket straight down from a space ship, slamming directly into its target at a force that would kill anyone who wasn't a superhuman in power armor, and opening up to release a squad of space marines with guns blazing. Screaming down from space, then pivoting around to its side and flying around like a weird, slow jet just doesn't make any physical or tactical sense in my mind. (How does it hover along slowly if it is a jet? Don't the riders all fall over on their sides? In order to burn targets like in the rules, it must be pivoting back and forth between vertical and horizontal positions?) So I will just leave mine off the stand.

I am looking forward to seeing this thing on a battlefield soon.

Imperialis Militia Drop Troops Force Commander

Here is a Force Commander for my Imperialis Militia regiment, the Kozar Army Airborne "Golden Eagles" regiment (Horus Heresy). He is also the Company Commander of the Xhorik 87th Drop Troops in the 41st millennium (WH40k). 

Here are the draft rules for their provenance of war (feedback welcome) and some pictures of the rest of the army: 

Drop Troops - Proposed Provenance of War

Army Photo Summary

He is not the most imposing army commander, but he has style. 

Their regiment is called the Golden Eagles and I wanted the bird to be both a piece of wargear and a sort of mascot so I tried to give it a sort of golden brown color.  

The wolf pelt and the hunting bird help tie him in with his sworn brothers, the White Scars, and hopefully add a look of being from a martial society and being not fully civilized, as we might think of it.

The model is made from pieces from the Anvil Industries Regiments line. Since he is a fairly small model, I placed him on a larger base with a big rock to help identify him as the commander.

I used mostly the same palette as the other models in the army, with the same color fatigues, boots and gloves and continued with a very small amount of the regimental color orange for accents. I added a bit more blue as a sign of his rank to help him stand out. The black jacket and hat just felt right and it looks cool. Then I had to find some ways to get the bone color in there, so I used it for the cloak, the gas mask and the bird's hood. I wanted to keep their faces a light color to help the blue and orange really pop the way it does on the other infantry in the army.

The cool thing about the raptor is there is actually a piece of wargear he can have called a Cyber-familiar, so the model fits perfectly! He also has what could be a plasma pistol and power sword. But the main reason to take this guy in an Imperialis Militia army is that he allows the army to take Provenances of War, which will allow my grav-chute army to actually play like the drop troops they are.

Horus Heresy Battle Report 11: The Pursuit of Zherdan

"Even the greatest mountain is worn to dust by the wind"

- Brother Veteran Gansukh,

Brotherhood of the Wind, White Scars Legion

Campaign To Date:


It is the middle of the Age of Darkness, as the Warmaster Horus makes his long march toward Terra, leaving shattered star systems in his wake. Lying in the path of the traitors' advance, the planet of Xhorik Prime is torn apart in civil war after only recently being united by the Great Crusade. The largest nation, The Federation of Unimund declare for the Warmaster and Mortarian as their living gods and liberators, while their ancient rivals to the north, the stratocracy of Kozar and her allies, side with their kindred spirits and sworn blood brothers, the White Scars.


In the first phase of the campaign, the Death Guard captured the border city of Bielyer and the only space port of any consequence in the region.


The second phase of the campaign has centered around the conflict for the Vaalbara Plateau. The White Scars struck first with a false retreat leading to an ambush of the Death Guard vanguard. The Traitors were able to rescue Praetor Wolfgang in time to lead them to victory in the pitched battle that followed. Then, after using the space port in Bielyr to bring in a super heavy battle tank, the Death Guard attacked and destroyed the Loyalist base, Bunker Tauruk. Praetor Zherdan and a small band of survivors were forced to fall back and attempt to meet up with reinforcements that had been on their way to the battle at the bunker. After a lengthy pursuit over rough terrain, a Death Guard Eradication Patrol has finally caught up to Zherdan and his band of survivors and they are calling for reinforcements of their own.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sergeant Albrecht rode across the frozen terrain in the command seat of the Rhino. Outside the vision slit, the world was darkness other than where the small transport’s spotlight shone. He watched the monitor displaying the vehicle’s scanner outputs intently. He had been tracking the fleeing Loyalists for three days and nights since the Death Guard victory at Bunker Tauruk. He knew he had been close on the second day, but his quarry had slipped away in a dust storm. They were on foot and some were injured. He knew it was only a matter of time until he brought them to bay.


When the scanner display started blinking, Albrecht grinned in anticipation.


“We’ve got movement, sir. Looks like about twenty pings. Moving with some organization, not randomly. Must be the enemy survivors,” the driver reported.


Albrecht looked at the scan of the surrounding terrain and immediately gave the command to engage.


“Support teams, dismount and move into position on the hill with the supply depot. Kill anything that moves,” Albrecht ordered over the com-link to the other Rhinos in his patrol.


On the screen, the blips did not appear to be fleeing. They looked to be forming up and taking positions in the rocks. Albrecht swung the searchlight around and caught a glimpse of the pale shapes moving in the blackness. He spotted a distinct outline, a man larger than the others and with personal banners that he recognized.


Sergeant Albrecht got on the com-link to report out: “This is Sergeant Albrecht of Squad Ritter. Target of significance confirmed. It is Praetor Zherdan. Moving to engage. Request support immediately.”


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Pre-Game and Mission

We decided that the scenario Hunter/Hunted from the Shadow War missions in Horus Hersey Book VI captured the feel we were after: the forces on the table at the start would represent the retreating White Scars survivors of the last battle pursued by Death Guard patrols, while the reserves would represent the Loyalist reinforcements mentioned in the build up to the last battle and on the other side, the Death Guard patrol calling for support once they identified a target of significance. In this mission, you start with half of your force on the table and half in reserve. It is a Kill Point mission with a few additional considerations: a bonus VP for wiping out a unit the turn it arrives from reserves (Mortal Blow); Slay the Warlord; and a bonus VP for wiping out a unit in a Sweeping Advance (Execution). We continued to use our house rule that Kill Points would be awarded for each 100 pts (rounded up) of the cost of a unit. The final special rule in this scenario was that the winner of a Shadow War roll would get to decide if the game started with d3 turns of Night Fighting.

We decided the Search and Destroy deployment map would be most fitting for the mission. And with each player having two board edges, it would make the Reserves rules more interesting with more choices to be made by the players and the reserve units more likely to have an immediate impact.

We decided whoever deployed first would get to select his deployment zone, in order to help balance out the disadvantage. We rolled off and Phil (Loyalists) won and elected to deploy second. Pete (Traitors) selected Zone III, which meant Phil would deploy in Zone I. Pete won the Shadow War roll and elected to start with Night Fighting, rolling up three turns of night.

The battlefield: the rocky badlands of the Vaalbara Plateau. 

ARMY SELECTION: 1150 Points

Death Guard Eradication Patrol - Pete

• Praetor Wolfgang: Terminator armor, Paragon Blade, volkite charger, digilasers
• Tactical Squad Stärke: 14 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor and Apothecary Wilhelm
• Tactical Squad Ritter: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power fist and artificer armor, rhino with heavy flamer
• Tactical Support Squad März: 7 marines with volkite calivers and Apothecary
• Heavy Support Squad Tragen: 3 marines with missile launchers
• Contemptor Dreadnought Friedrich:  multi-melta, meltagun, dreadnought close combat weapon

White Scars, Brotherhood of the Wind - Phil

• Praetor Zalitai Zherdan: Master-crafted power glaive, refractor field, cyber hawk, 
• Tactical Squad Kheeg: 10 marines with close combat weapons, sergeant with power glaive and artificer armor
• Tactical Support Squad Khoer: 8 marines with plasma guns
• Sicaran Omega Tank Destroyer Kharvaak: Omega Plasma Array, heavy bolter and lascannon sponsons
• Outrider Squad Anchin: 5 Outriders with twin-linked plasma guns, including sergeant

BATTLE:

Deployment: The Death Guard Patrol takes up position on a low hill being used as a supply depot. The White Scars turn to face their pursuers and use the rocky outcrops to stay out of sight of the Death Guard's long range weapons.

White Scars Plasma Outrider Squad

I added two more Outriders with plasma guns to bring the squad up to a more respectable five members. I think it makes the squad look better and more appropriate. I can't imagine I will add any more to this unit because the cost is already astronomical. Equipped as shown, the squad comes in at over 300 points! Yowza. It seems unlikely they will make back their points in enemy kills in any normal circumstances. But they look so cool that I can't see leaving them out of too many games.